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Cingular will be the first mobile operator to offer Palm's new Treo for the masses, the 680. This according to the blog engadget, which claims to have obtained a leaked internal document from the carrier to that effect. Ever since scuttlebutt about Nitro (the code-name for the Treo 680 before it was officially introduced a couple of weeks ago) started months back, America's largest operator topped the list of potential Palm partners to release the new smartphone.

E-mail options that will be available with the Treo 680, the Cingular documents says, include XpressMail, Good, BlackBerry Connect and Microsoft Direct Push, which is native to Windows Mobile smartphones like Vodafone's new Treo 750v and not Palm OS Treos like the Treo 680.

This is most likely a mistake, unless a third party has developed an as-of-yet unannounced Palm platform Direct Push client that we're not aware. DataViz, for example, already offers this capability for Symbian OS, S60 interface smartphones through its RoadSync Exchange ActiveSync client.

Targeted at consumers Palm defines as 'mobile accomplishers'—college-educated cell phone owners who want to strike a balance between work and personal lives by making the move up to a smartphone—the Treo 680 promises to be the least expensive Palm smartphone yet. Although pricing hasn't been unveiled yet, the Treo 680 should retail for $200 or less, depending on the service contract.

As with the Treo 750v, the Treo 680 loses the Treo's signature external antenna, making it decidedly sleeker-looking than the Treo 650, which it replaces. Its GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio is a quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) type for global compatibility.

The Treo 680 also sports a VGA camera, a 320 x 320 pixel resolution touch screen, 64 MB of user-available memory, a 312 MHz Intel PXA270 processor, and Bluetooth. Its 1200 mAH lithium-ion battery is supposed to last up to 4 hours talk and 300 hours standby time.

At 4.4 x 2.3 x 0.8 inches and 5.28 ounces, the 680 - which will ship in Graphite, Crimson, Arctic, and Copper (known to most folks as silver, red, white and orange) - is the smallest Treo yet.

Palm has upgraded the user interface and introduced a new simplified five tab phone application with the Treo 680. In addition, the Address Book and contacts are now built directly into the phone application.

DataViz Documents To Go v8 is bundled for Microsoft Office document viewing and editing, the VersaMail e-mail has been upgraded, and Pocket Tunes (upgradeable for DRM protected content) will plays music files.

Google Maps delivers directions, local search, moveable/scalable maps, location satellite imagery and live traffic updates.

A threaded chat application tracks SMS conversations as if they were an instant messaging exchange, so you can view everything in one place.

Palm has also updated the Web browser for faster performance and more accurate delivery of content.

In addition to Cingular, Palm expects 19 more international carriers will pick up the Treo 680 by June of next year.